Page 266 - Ray Dalio - Principles

c. Don’t give orders and try to be followed; try to be understood and to
understand others by getting in sync.

10.11 Hold yourself and your people accountable and appreciate them for
holding you accountable.

a. If you’ve agreed with someone that something is supposed to go a
certain way, make sure it goes that way—unless you get in sync about
doing it differently.
b. Distinguish between a failure in which someone broke their “contract”
and a failure in which there was no contract to begin with.
c. Avoid getting sucked down.
d. Watch out for people who confuse goals and tasks, because if they can’t
make that distinction, you can’t trust them with responsibilities.
e. Watch out for the unfocused and unproductive “theoretical should.”

10.12 Communicate the plan clearly and have clear metrics conveying
whether you are progressing according to it.
a. Put things in perspective by going back before going forward.

10.13 Escalate when you can’t adequately handle your responsibilities and
make sure that the people who work for you are proactive about
doing the same.
11 Perceive and Don’t Tolerate Problems

11.1 If you’re not worried, you need to worry—and if you’re worried, you
don’t need to worry.
11.2 Design and oversee a machine to perceive whether things are good
enough or not good enough, or do it yourself.
a. Assign people the job of perceiving problems, give them time to
investigate, and make sure they have independent reporting lines so that
they can convey problems without any fear of recrimination.
b. Watch out for the “Frog in the Boiling Water Syndrome.”
c. Beware of group-think: The fact that no one seems concerned doesn’t
mean nothing is wrong.
d. To perceive problems, compare how the outcomes are lining up with
your goals.
e. “Taste the soup.”
f. Have as many eyes looking for problems as possible.

g. “Pop the cork.”
h. Realize that the people closest to certain jobs probably know them best.
11.3 Be very specific about problems; don’t start with generalizations.

a. Avoid the anonymous “we” and “they,” because they mask personal
responsibility.
11.4 Don’t be afraid to fix the difficult things.

a. Understand that problems with good, planned solutions in place are
completely different from those without such solutions.

b. Think of the problems you perceive in a machinelike way.